The Secret Archives of the Vatican

by Maria Luisa Ambrosini, Mary Willis

1996 B& N reprint of 1969 ed. Interesting history of the Vatican Archives in Rome. Author was allowed to examine many historic treasures.

Genres: History, Religion, Nonfiction, Christianity, Catholic

366 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1969

Reviews

[Adam · Rating 3 out of 5]

I must confess that at the time I am writing this I am only halfway through the book. If my opinion drastically changes by the end of the book, then I will update this review, however, I doubt it will.

When I initially purchased this book it was on clearance for five dollars at Barnes & Noble, and having a passing interest in religious history I thought it was worth it. While I seriously believe it was well worth my money, especially a hardcover at that price. This book is not at all what I had initially expected. I was expecting a book on what was IN the archives of the Vatican, but rather this is a book about the history of the archives itself. It's a fairly interesting book overall because you get to see where the archives developed and then how they were managed during the middle ages. The parts I found most interesting were the inception of the archives before Christianity was a legal religion in Rome and the archives during the Great Schism when there were two Pope's and thus, two archives.

Unfortunately for me, my historical knowledge of specific events and peoples during these time frames is somewhat limited. My historical research focuses more on Egypt, Persia, Israel, and Sumer. I have a decent general working knowledge of the time frames in question, but not nearly the depth the author seems to assume her readers will have. That is probably the single failing of this book from a readers perspective, the author appears to assume you know quite a bit about the people involved and what was happening in the world during that time-frame. This makes the book unecessarily difficult to read, which is why I chose to review it now while I have the free time. This is the kind of book that I read a few chapters, then stop and read a few books, then go back to this one for a few more chapters.

Don't misunderstand me, this book is very well researched for what it is. Packing in this much history in about 300 pages must've been quite a challenge. While her approach was somewhat unique and it does include quotes from documents she has viewed in the archives to engage the reader a bit more, she doesn't really explain the documents as much as I would like, or the history of the people. On that level though you're talking about writing volumes for a single history, and that simply can't be the case for this book.

I am left wanting more depth on the archival history and more about what is in the actual archives. This book is merely okay for what it is from my perspective. It didn't really enthrall me, nor did I hate it by any means. I am merely felt wanting more and will need to go elsewhere to get further information.

[Ray Savarda · Rating 2 out of 5]

I guess to people really into the history of the archives, and by extension, some history of the different popes, this would be interesting. I thought there would be more exposure to what's really in the archives, thru the first couple hundred pages it's more about where early documents were stored, they moved from here to there, many were destroyed when the various conquering people ran thru where things were stored - there is a lot of that detail, and hats off to the author.
But I thought it would be much more about what fascinating documents were in there, and so far, not a lot other than papal decrees about this or that, and excommunications, and letters to / from kings (with little detail). Granted, I only got thru the first 125 pages.

[rhonda cole · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was a history of the Vatican archives, but not what was specifically in them. At times it was interesting, but, overall, I was disappointed that it wasn't specifically revealing.

[Daniel Hebert · Rating 5 out of 5]

Not to say that every book I read is a five star but all the work that went into this one deserves five stars. The author worked extensively on this and a very, very difficult subject being the archives of the Vatican, unlike the version of it by Dan Brown, the Vatican archives in no way resemble what he described in the da Vinci Code. Her history shows that the archives had been taken apart and destroyed several times. Some of the manuscripts were torn out of their bindings page by page and used to wrap fish in Paris, but even at the same time, it offers us a history of Europe from a different point of view and the history of the world at a slightly different point of view so if you’re into history, you’re gonna love this book if you’re not you’re not and that’s my caution to you people who are looking for some semblance of a truth or have any curiosity about the history of the Roman Catholic Church might find this to be of interest. Having said that the book is dated. It was written in 1969 so anything beyond that is not in the book which may make Dan Brown’s version real for I know. This is not an easy read by any stretch of the imagination.

[Lauren Patton · Rating 5 out of 5]

I couldn't get enough of it. Ambrosini does a remarkable job of relating thousands of years of history into this book and consistently bringing it back to the story of the Archives.

[Hannelore · Rating 3 out of 5]

Overall a well done research novel on the history of the Secret Archives. However there are multiple tangent stories, that while entertaining have nothing to do with the Archives. Also, several of her conclusions are colored by her religious beliefs instead of remaining impartial as a researcher should remain.

[Maria Jo · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is written as a history of the Catholic Church, through the Secret Archives. It follows the Archives through all the librarians, from Lawrence the Librarian, a martyr, through the twentieth century (the book was published in 1969). It concludes by looking ahead at what the future might hold.

[Andrew · Rating 4 out of 5]

Definitely not as salacious as the title implies; yet very interesting information regarding the stores of knowledge and documents that are housed in the Vatican. Who knows what may be "lost" in there.

[Melea · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lots of history, I didn't have the background the author was targeting. It was interesting, and I did learn more about Roman church history.

[Kim · Rating 2 out of 5]

Dreary! Thought it would be more interesting than it was.

[David Norris · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent background history of the Catholic Church. I loved it.